• From: Indiana, USA
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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

I just watched Doctor X (1932) with Fay Wray and Lionel Atwill. Atwill is Doctor Xavier (which he pronounces it ZAV-ee-ay, but then he also keeps saying "surgical scal-PEL"). He's running various tests on his colleagues to determine which of them is the cannibalistic strangler who has been linked to his research institute. Fay Wray is luminous as the daughter in danger, and is shot with more generous closeup here than in King Kong.

I think this is the first feature I've seen that uses two-strip color, and it's a fantastic example. The HD transfer used by Turner Classic Movies is clean and beautifully preserved. The creepy story makes good use of it, with the exception of a beach scene that ought to burst with sunny yellows.

It's a talky slow burner, but if you're interested in the development of color photography, it's worth a look. And if you're a fan of early chillers, it's a gem. (The climax is basically a good-girl-art cover of Weird Tales.) I liked it a little better than The Invisible Man, which I watched again last weekend.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

I'll hand it to you, that does indeed look amazing, in a very disturbing way

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  • From: Indiana, USA
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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

Most of the dumb names and the journey to Celestial City come right from Pilgrim's Progress, a kind of Christianity for Dummies allegory.

I'll bet the movie was a blast to make. Plus, now everyone has an IMDb credit!

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

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379 Reply by Invid

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

Squiggly_P wrote:

There is so much about this movie that I want to bring up that it's hard to choose just a few things to write about. I'll start with the DVD cover. The movie is The Wizard Of Oz, only really really shitty and instead of having a tin man and a scarecrow you have generic characters named Faith, Hope and - inexplicably - Turtle. No, I don't get that one, either.

It's Turtles all the way up to Heaven, dude.

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380 Reply by Invid

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

I may have mentioned it in some other thread, but as a kid I thought Alien and Outland were in the same movie universe. It helped that both novelizations were written by Alan Dean Foster, but there was the same theme of evil space corporations uniting them. The idea of a series of movies, all independent but in the same "world", was great.

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

To be fair, if you really want, you can assume they're the same universe just based on Alien and Blade Runner having the exact same "purge" graphic on take-off:http://propaholics.wolfchasers.com/uploader/users/tyranus4/ALIEN%20Purge%20Screen.jpg
http://propaholics.wolfchasers.com/uploader/users/tyranus4/BLADE%20RUNNER%20Purge%20Screen%202.jpg

Last edited by bullet3 (2012-10-09 05:15:32)

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  • From: Scotland
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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

For my birthday, I got The Raid on Blu Ray and Cabin In The Woods Blu Ray Steelbook!

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  • From: Indiana, USA
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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

I watched Jackie Chan's First Strike the other day with my 9-y-o nephew. Neither of us had ever seen it, and we enjoyed the hell out of it. Next up: Operation Condor, which I saw in the theater.

There's something about Jackie Chan movies that keeps me from loving them, but I do always really enjoy them.

And today I saw Hotel Transylvania in the theater with my sister and 9-y-o niece. We liked it well enough, but I thought it wasn't really as funny as I'd hoped, and my niece thought it wasn't all that funny and had too much romance. ("Kids don't like that stuff!") The 3D was great (the first polarized 3D film I've seen, actually).

It was kind of weirdly focused on Adam Sandler's obsessive Dracula and his attempts to keep his daughter from wanting to travel. You would THINK that Andy Samberg's human Jonny would stumble upon the hotel for monsters, fall for the vampire girl, and try to avoid suspicion by pretending to be a monster, but it's actually Dracula who tries to keep everyone else from discovering that there is a terrifying human in their midst. Odd choice. Selena Gomez as the vampire daughter Mavis was terrific but Jonny is a clueless dork; no way that relationship lasts.

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

While it's definitely not a good movie, I don't think the politics or message are problematic. I have no problem with a military porn movie that glorifies soldiers and is unambiguously behind what they do. Given that literally EVERY single other war or military movie nowadays is about how the CIA are evil, and how the government and military are corrupt and out to get you, it's almost a subversion to have an 80s style "lets kill all the evil terrorists" movie.

Where it fails miserably is as you said, the complete and utter lack of story, characters, or acting.
Some of the delivery's are just so absurdly bad.

I do think there's some cool action beats, I like the whole boat rescue and assault on the compound early on, and I think the interrogation scene is very well done as well (apparently the guy was a real military interrogator, given fake information about the fake bad guy, and told to carry out a real interrogation on him).

But ya, it's a pretty big failure overall, kinda watchable once as a rental but that's about it.

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

So, a random bit I heard on the radio is that Arnold Schwarzenegger is reprising his role as Conan the Barbarian in the "Legend of Conan."

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

fireproof78 wrote:

So, a random bit I heard on the radio is that Arnold Schwarzenegger is reprising his role as Conan the Barbarian in the "Legend of Conan."

Crom!

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

Joseph Gordon-Levitt said in the Nerdist podcast that he wrote and directed an upcoming film called Don Jon's Addiction. He also said he cast Tony Danza as his dad!

TONY DANZA!!!! big_smile

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

Xtroid wrote:
fireproof78 wrote:

So, a random bit I heard on the radio is that Arnold Schwarzenegger is reprising his role as Conan the Barbarian in the "Legend of Conan."

Crom!

Best news I've heard in forever. Conan fans have been hoping something like this would happen for damn near 30 years now. Wondering if this will at all be based on Milius's unmade screenplay King Conan.

Watching Conan the Barbarian for the first time recently, while a lot of the movie doesn't hold up and is pretty silly, there's also some really great film-making at play, a real understanding of how to approach a mythic story, and the score is fucking outstanding. It's pretty clear watching it that something like Lord of the Rings would never have happened if it wasn't for this movie.

Last edited by bullet3 (2012-10-27 22:46:52)

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389 Reply by Lamer

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

Phantom Racer has nothing on THE CAR:

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

I saw CLOUD ATLAS and I'm planning to write a review, but it's gonna take some time for me to get my thoughts together.

Short version is it's awesome and you should go see it.

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

I agree with Dorkman. CLOUD ATLAS is amazing and not to be missed. I need to digest it a little more, but it's probably my favorite movie of the year (so far).

"The Doctor is Submarining through our brains." --Teague

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

It's not released in the UK until February! Son of a crack ho!

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  • From: Farmington, CT
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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

Well, you bastards have Skyfall already, so consider us even. wink

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

Ha, fair enough big_smile

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

Oh man, so I'm rewatching Final Fantasy Spirits Within, and I'll be damned if that's not one of the weirdest wide US studio releases I've ever seen. Just everything about it is so uncanny valley and wrong. This would be an interesting one to have a DIF commentary on I think, because it was definitely ground-breaking and paved the way for polar express/beowulf/avatar, but at the same time it's so bizarre that they went out of their way to invent all of this tech for such a lame story/characters.

It's funny, cause I remember being absolutely blown away by the visuals when I saw it in theater's 10 years ago, but it doesn't at all seem that impressive watching it now. The worst thing by far is that they pretty much ripped off real celebrities for the look of the characters, but then got different celebrities to voice them.

There is nothing more disconcerting than hearing Alec Baldwin's voice coming out of Not-Ben-Affleck: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-haFZNyyzntQ/TljfRUHDZDI/AAAAAAAAAVA/-YVJ7Q2ixLI/s1600/FFSPWI+Gray.jpg

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

It's hard to see Cloud Atlas as a good movie, based on the trailer. I have no idea what's going on most of the time, what kind of genre it is, and who it's about.

But then again, I thought Avengers would suck.

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

So...watched Pirate Radio last night. Loved the hell out of it. It was so charmingly quirky and indie until it was very very clearly not done on an indie budget (If you've seen, you know what I'm talking about), but even then it still felt wonderfully quirky and indie. The entire cast was amazing, but really, that much comedic talent in one place, how could it not be?

If you have no clue what I'm talking about, we've got, Bill Nighy, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh, Jack Davenport, January Jones, Emma Thompson (Plus like 25 other amazing actors that I don't know by name) in this wonderfully weird little movie about a pirate radio station transmitting from a boat anchored just off the coast of Great Britain in the 60's as they bring the suppressed rock and roll to the masses, while the English gov't (Namely Branagh and Davenport) tries to take them off the air, by any means necessary. It's like a coming of age story wrapped up in a twisted history of rock and roll, all in this exaggerated universe just barely skimming the line of farcical.

I think it's needless to say at this point, but definitely recommended.

@Vidina: I have very purposefully told myself that I won't be making any judgements or really even thinking about Cloud Atlas until I see it. I just have no idea what to make of it, and any attempts to try could only be detrimental. So for now, I live in a state of forcible ignorance.

Last edited by BigDamnArtist (2012-10-28 13:14:48)

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  • From: Indiana, USA
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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

I decided to sit down with The Evil Dead last night for the first time and enjoyed the hell out of it. The first part has some nice atmosphere and skillful suspense building. In the second half, Bruce Campbell does a good job keeping the insanity grounded. I expected to see the beginning of his trademark swagger, but he's really quite normal.

It's considerably more low-budget than I was expecting. Many of the effects are so bad they can't be taken seriously. There's some amateurish editing at times and wobbly acting (but not as wobbly as Night of the Living Dead '68), and it's a bit hard to keep the girls straight. But overall, it's a lot of ridiculous fun.

Last edited by Zarban (2012-10-28 15:08:01)

Warning: I'm probably rewriting this post as you read it.

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399 Reply by Phi

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

Finally saw The Guard after having it on my list for a long while. If you liked Hot Fuzz AND In Bruges AND you can follow Irish accents you'd probably like it. Brendan Gleeson is eminently watchable and the chemistry with Don Cheadle is great. Mark Strong does his thing too.

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Re: Random Movie Talk That Probably Doesn't Deserve Its Own Thread

Squiggly_P wrote:

If you've not seen the second one, you should. It's part remake and part sequel, but it hits the perfect balance of horror and comedy. The first one is almost straight horror and the third one is almost pure comedy, but the second one is just right.

I still like the 3rd one best for the comedic Monty-Python meets Big Trouble in Little China action-adventure vibe (and what is probably the last large-scale use of stop-motion in a live-action film), though they're all quite good for different reasons.

Last edited by bullet3 (2012-10-28 17:55:26)

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